Maturity is Overrated.

This MTV campaign is currently running...and I have to agree, maturity is overrated.

I think we all know that.

We all secretly like those corn in your poop jokes. We all still laugh when someone farts in a public place. And boobs? Zits? Yeah those are funny too. And they always will be, because maturity is simply overrated. MTV is one of the very few who admit to it, embracing the fact that they, themselves, are immature...which I think is a great idea.

I love immaturity.

SueTube

Everyone knows that Google--owner of, um, the Internet--recently purchased YouTube for like a hundred bajillion dollars (or $1.65 billion, whatever). Back then, it seemed like a pretty awesome business move (all those impressions!!!!), but the conglorporation might be kicking itself after Viacom--owner of, um, television?--announced it is suing Google for $1b over copyright infringement.

Marc "Smarty Pants" Cuban, the self-proclaimed Blog Maverick, whatever that means, and founder of broadcast.com said this was gonna happen: "Google will get sued by thousands of rights holders." And boy, was he right! Viacom alleges that about 160,000 unauthorized clips are floating around on YouTube and have been viewed more than 1.5 billion times, so lawyers are pretty happy.

But why didn't Viacom sue YouTube a long time ago? Well, if you possessed the mental capacity of Marc Cuban, which you don't, then you would've figured out long ago that lawyers were stealthily waiting around for Google to buy out YouTube so they could jump into their infinitely deep pockets and swim in sweet delicious money.

And Google's response? They're claiming innocence, meaning they're stalling while they scrape up enough money to buy Viacom, which they could probably find under the cushions of the couches in Google's break room. I heard there are million-dollar bills under there.

But in the end, guess who benefits? You! NewsCorp & NBC have teamed up for a more proactive response--to develop an online video portal, chock full of content like House, Heroes and 24, plus hit movies... allegedly. I'll believe it when I see it. But if it really happens, it might be the beginning of the end of TV as we know it. Just kidding. And what does Marc Cuban have to say about all this? "It's a great idea." Thanks, Marc.

e-Books or real books?

On the Locus magazine site, Cory Doctorow wrote a really interesting article about e-books vs. novels and new media vs. traditional media. I think it brings up some very good points. My personal opinion is that nothing can take away the tactile feel of flipping through a newspaper, a magazine, or a book.

Critique Please: Orion Telescopes

Art Director/Idea Maker: Nancy Jeng
Art Director/Idea Maker: Matt Crump

Austin Agencies: Goings-On

Austin agency, Door Number 3, has launched "Behind the Door", a SXSW blog covering the Interactive & Film Festival as well as the music scene. A quote from Bryan Keplesky (Art Director), "We are digging into all the lectures, panels, films and events that we believe have relevance to the world we work in everyday." Check it out to get an advertiser's take on the craziness that is SXSW.

On an unrelated note, Adrants and the Acadamy of Art: SF are hosting an Advertising and Marketing Industry Diversity Job Fair and Leadership Conference in San Francisco tomorrow. Austin ad agency, T-3, will be there in the morning and Gay Gaddis, president and founder, will be speaking on a panel discussing "What it's like to work in the advertising and marketing industries". If you're in town, check it out (you can crash at my place if you need to, Longhorns are always welcome).

Animator vs. Animation Part II

This was created by 17-year old Alan Becker of Ohio. Also, at some Flash conference blog I recently saw (The name escapes me at the moment), there were some pictures of a 14-year old boy flash extraordinaire as a guest speaker. This shows that technology isn't just for grown-ups.

ADDYS wins

With a total of 17 winning campaigns including a Best in Show, 26 Texas Creative students were awarded Gold (7), Silver (6) and Bronze (4) ADDYs on Friday night at the Austin Advertising Federation’s 2007 Austin ADDYs at the Crocket Center. More info here.

St. Basil's Cathedral by Motorola

These are all Motorola PEBL cell phones. I wonder if they're real phones or just those plastic display models. From Russia Blog